Date: 10 November 2004
Couider Achour is a 42-year-old Algerian national who is currently detained in Lyons (France). On 16 October 1984 Lyons Criminal Court found the applicant guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. He finished serving his sentence on 12 July 1986. On 1 March 1994 the provisions of Article 132-9 of the new Criminal Code, changing the law concerning recidivism, came into force. Those provisions stipulated that where a person who had already been convicted with final effect of a serious crime or offence punishable by ten years’ imprisonment committed, within ten years of the expiry of the previous sentence or of the time allowed for its enforcement, a further offence carrying a similar sentence, the maximum sentence and fine imposable should be doubled. On 14 April 1997 Lyons Criminal Court found the applicant guilty of a drug offence following the discovery in his garage of two bags containing some 57 kilograms of cannabis. It sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment and ordered his exclusion from French territory for ten years. On 25 November 1997 Lyons Court of Appeal, applying Article 132-9, increased the applicant’s sentence to 12 years. The applicant appealed on points of law, complaining about the retrospective application of the provisions of the new, more severe law. The Court of Cassation dismissed his appeal. The applicant complained about the application of the new law on recidivism which led to an increase in his sentence. He relies on Article 7.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)
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